Moscowitch breathed deeply.
"Ah! how happy I am to have met you!"
"Why," Entragues modestly returned, "I think you will not have to repent it. There are so few people capable of understanding; one usually finds only envy, jealousy, stupidity, conceit, and indifference when one is born under a very favorable star. Come, where shall we begin? You know that I can in no way directly intervene to further your marriage. Just acquaint me with what takes place and I will give you advice on the conduct to be followed. You will come to see me; we shall deliberate like a counsel of war; we shall examine the condition of the place; we shall make plans; we shall leave nothing to chance, and we will be victors. Have no doubts upon this. Do you know her long?"
"Since last winter. Some Russian friends gave me a letter of introduction to Madame la comtesse d'Aubry, who introduced me one evening to Madame Magne. I suddenly felt that my life had found its goal."
"It was a sort of thunderbolt?"
"I know that word, thunderbolt," Moscowitch complacently remarked. "No, a sudden attraction, rather. I saw her and loved her—that is all."
"And you did not confess your love till long after?"
"Later, two or three months afterwards. But I believe she had already perceived my sentiments, for she was not surprised to hear me express them."
"The fact that one loves a woman never astonishes her; it is the contrary that surprises her."
"Yes, she had divined my state of mind."